Sunday or Day 5atAspers Casino Stratford was not a typical poker day in London. Mainly because the casino’s poker room would normally be much less busy on Sunday afternoons, according to the casino staff. But with the Cash Game Festival in the city, the early afternoon’s 9 simultaneously running cash game tables were an impressive sight for sure.

In the afternoon, we announced two lucky winners of the Cash Game Game Festival High Hand Game. Congratulations to Kenneth Robert James and Viral P Lodhiya from London. Both these gentlemen won full packages to our Dublin, Ireland stop, taking place in the Village Green Card Club on Oct. 11-15. The packages include stake money, hotel for 2 and Cash Game Festival’s hospitality packages for 2. What makes the packages even more fun is the fact that the winners can bring a friend. In case they decide to bring a non-poker friend, he or is going to have a good time in Dublin as there will be a nice hotel room waiting and daily fun social activities available.

The early afternoon in London saw our players teaming up for a tour and beer in London. Surprise, surprise, the Cash Game Festival’s founder, Mr. Martin Franke von Zweigbergk, arrived in London on Sunday and was able to participate in the tour and enjoy some well-deserved beer in the warm and relatively sunny afternoon. Known to the Cash Game Festival family as Franke, he is a busy person, traveling for work across Europe (Sometimes across the world.), trying to make these fun events happen for all of us. His Sunday’s arrival was welcomed by all. The next day, right after London stop, he was traveling to Dublin, Ireland in preparation for our Dublin stop which is now only 15 days away. We really can’t wait to be in Dublin. A new city, a new country – conquering Europe bit by bit, on and off the continent.

Franke in London at Aspers Casino Stratford

The guided tour in London also brought some surprises for John Scanlon, the Head of Poker at Aspers. Namely, while roaming around the city, the players were given a task of choosing him a gift. The gift had to be worth £10 and chosen with care, bearing John in mind. Seems that the vacuum packed chicken was chosen for his traditional British Sunday roast. See the photo below of the chicken on a poker table.

Gifts for John Scanlon

In the end, John had to choose his favourite gift. He chose a cute pendant necklace. The buyer of the gift, Azat Zalaev from Russia, won a hospitality package to our Dublin stop for pleasing John. Azat has come to our the festival twice already, in Bulgaria and London. Both times, he qualified via Betsson. A lucky guy!

The gift selection done, it was time for some Twitch TV table action. The first TV table was £1/£2 hold’em and the second £5/£5 Omaha. Initially, we had £10/£25 hold’em planned for the later live session. However, the plan changed because the players wanted more action. So, Omaha it was to be. We apologize for the change in plans. It happens rarely but if any change does occur, it is for a good reason.

We are very proud to announce that our first ever TV table trophy went to Norway. Jon Kristian Kyte (edit: in the feature image) from Bergen was the biggest winner of all TV table sessions in London. He secured the trophy by winning £4,290 or 858 big blinds, the most big blinds won on our live feature tables. Congratulations, Jon! This was his second ever trophy in poker. His first came in 2016 from Norwegian Championships & JP Masters, Dublin where he landed the 3rd place.

Jon runs a poker club in Bergen and is very much into lively and social poker action. However, most likely, he cannot make it to our Dublin stop since he has a poker club to run. According to Jon, our Tallinn stop in Nov. 15-19 looks very promising. So, it is London-Bergen-Tallinn for him. Welcome back to the Cash Game Festival!

In preparation forDublin stop, we asked JP of the Village Green Card Club some questions about poker and his card room. Below are some insights by JP Mc Cann him-self.

How long have you been playing poker?

I started playing cards with my Dad and my brother when I was 5 or 6 years old and began playing Texas Hold’em in 2001 while on a J1 Visa in America.

How often do you play now?

Unfortunately, I don’t get to play as much as I would like anymore, but I still play on average once a week.

Your favourite poker variety?

Various dealer choices games with wild cards.

How did you end up opening the Village Green Card Club?

I had a mobile poker business (Hotel events etc.) for 8 years before I opened the club. At the time, I was also working a lot across Europe and was away from home up to 3 weeks every month. I’d actually tried renting the unit a number of times over the previous three but we couldn’t agree on the terms. In the end, it came available at the right price and I went for it.

What are your future plans?

I have a number of projects at the moment, to bring high quality events to Ireland. The Cash Game Festival being one of them; I hope, together with the staff at CGF, to deliver a great event in October and we will hopefully plan a bigger CGF for 2018.

How is the Irish poker scene?

The Irish market has changed a lot over the past number of years. With more and more recreational players entering the playing field with small buy-in and big guaranteed prize pools becoming the norm now. We recently announced arguably the biggest of them all with €500k Guaranteed for just €150 to kick of the Irish Open next year.

The Hendon Mob has listed major festivals & tournament JP is currently working with or has worked with. These are:

Barrier Poker Tour (France) 2010-Present: TD

European Deepstack Championship 2009 – Present: TD

European Shorthanded Championship 2009 – Present: TD

EPT 2010 – Present: Floor

Irish Open 2009 – Present: Asst TD

JP Poker Masters 2007 – Present: Host & TD

JP Poker Mini Series 2009 – Present: Host & TD

Marrakech Poker Open 2011: TD

Norwegian Open 2010 – Present: Asst TD 2010, TD 2011

UKIPT 2009 – Present: Floor

World Series of Poker Europe 2011: Asst TD

We are impressed!

In case you can’t make it to Dublin stop, bear in mind, that our Tallinn, Estonia stop takes place in Olympic Park Casino on November 15-19. Quite a few of our UK and new Norwegian players have already confirmed their attendance. Some have even messaged us the screenshots of their flight and hotel bookings which is a very sweet thing to do. You guys & gals are simply awesome. Lucky to have you in the growing Cash Game Festival family. Or should we say Cash Game Festival community now? Definitions aside, you have helped to create the fun and amazing atmosphere at each stop. You ROCK!